Automobile curtain



Sept. 9 1924.

O. C. FROKE AUTOMOBILE CURTAIN Filed Dec. 4, 1923 TTY fr@ 4f.

INVENTUR: a@ M y w/w TTOENIY 4Patented Septe 99 19724.

PATENT OFFICE.

one o. FROXE; or' sourit naito'ra.

AUTONOMI-,n K CURTAIN.

Appui-,anun med December 4, 192e. semina. 678,391,

Be it known thatjl, OLE C. FOKE, a citizen olf the United States,residing at Suinniin in the county of Roberts and State of South Dakota,have invented certain new and useful Vlmp'rovements in AutomobileCurtains, ot' which the following is a specification. l

M 'y invention relates to side curtains for the open type ot automobilescommonly lino'wn as touring cars., and roadsters and the object is toprovide a simple, eicient and inexpensive device permanently attached toa car vand which may be manipulated i-n such a manner as to ,provide acoinpletely inclosed car bod, or one or more openings as desired vforventilation and other purposes as hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawing: v

Fig. 1is .a right hand side .elevation of the front. part of anautomobile equipped with one, of devices. Y

Fig:A 2- is an enlarged section on .the line -Q in Fig. 1,

F 3 is a sectional elevation yofmy device as online in Fig. 2, inreduced scale.

flis .an enlarged'section on line a-fl in Fig. 1 showing mainly themeans for ate taching my device to anrautom'obile door.

Reterringto the drawing by reference numerals, Fig. 1 illustrates atouring car in which i5 represents the front ground wheels, 6 the hood,7 the body and 8 the topf; the latter supported from the body by a brace9 which nia-y also'have an angular forwardly extending ybrace 10. 11 isvthe stationary lower windshieldv frame having at its upper corner theusual joint 12 to which is pivotally secured by bolts l2L the upperlWindshield frame 13. llis the right hand front door to which my deviceis shown attached although it will be understood that with minorvariations the device is equal-ly applicable Ato alldoorsvof' a car.

My improved curtain is mounted in a light rectangular tra-ine mountedonand adjacent the top edge of the .doorzand extending vertically abovethe door in plane therew with. The front vertical-edge 16aisapproximatelyfin alignment with the corresponding edge ot the door butthe lower horizontal edge 1Gb of the frame extends beyond the door,fitting snugly against the car body and the rear vertical edge 16c ofthe :trame may be about half way between the front and rear doors of thecar or near the support 9 (See rig. 1). an tournees @fue flame are ipreferably made-.of very light angle iron or channelsjin which aremounted the curtain and curtain operating means. The lower edge orframe. member 1Gb carries` a cleat 1 7 adaptedto rest on the top edge ofthe car door.k yThe fron-t edge 16" may have a down-y ward extension16aal perforatedfztor bolts 18 passed ythrough the car Ydoor and aninside cleat 19 tor clamp-ing the front part ot the frame to the door. Asuitable bracket 2() `or other means. may also be provided near theopposite end of the car door for securing` the trame there.to(see Fig.It will be readily understood that the above described traine swingswith the door when the latter is swung on its hinges 14a, i When thedoor is closed the upper edge ldand rear` edge 16 of the :frame arestopped .by and tit within an'inverted 'L-shaped traine 21 preferablymade of'liglit angle iron. The verticalA arm 21a of said frame has itslower yend secured to thecar body as at QQand the forward end of litshorizontal *arm 2lb is perforated for the pivot bolt 12a of thewindshield joint'.-

The 4common practice-ot manufacturers of open cars is to providesectional'sidefcurf tains adapted to be held in place with :turn buttonslocated on the car top V8 and body 7 about :as at 23 ,'and24t7respectively. Hooks 25 are also provided-ron the windshield trame 11 forholdingk the front curtain tight 'against said trame. Such curtains must'be secured at .all points and the car is inclosed in such a manner thatis diiiicult Aor nearly impossible or the drive-r to malte propersignals for tur-ning and it the `curtains are loosened at any pointthere s objectionable flapping ofthe lcurtain in the wind currents. Mydevice overcomes these objections; All of the original turn buttons .andcurtain hooks may lbe used 4'with device but only a narrow vert-icalstrip of curtain 26 is required between the vertical front frame memberand the whidshield iframe. Thisstrip may have an integral, horizontalstrip 26a extending between the top door trame member 21b and the car.top 8 bein-g :secured to lthe former in any suitable manner (not shown)andto the latter on :the buttons 23 thereof. 26b a vertical strip ofcurtain material with one vertical edge suitably secured to the doortraine member 21a. The other upright edge of the strip is adjacent therear car door 15, in a touring car, or secured to the rear curtain (notshown) of a roadster. The top l a curtain stretched taut over saidrollers approximately one half of the length ofl said curtain being ofawidth vertically to cover the frame `opening the balanceiof itcoinprising two vertically spaced strips {28a-28h acts as a belt dottedin between which is a clear opening. Said strips are provided withstraps or chapes 29 at their ends-adapted to be engaged in buckles 30secured in' the vertical adjacent ledge of the curtain (see Fig. 3).Near the latter edge the curtain is provided with a light 31 of anysuitable transparent material, and on said edge is Asecured a verticallyarranged angle iron 32 for a purpose tofbe described. On the innervertical'edg'e of theA curtain I also provide a vertical angle iron 33for adjusting the curtain.` v

34 1s a double walled, light 'partition mounted vertically in theframe(see Figs. 2

and 3). Said partition is about half the width of frame 16 and mayhaveupper and.

lower extensions 34h-34h. respectively, of the same width as the curtainstrips and adapted to be covered by jthe latter. Said partition andextensions serve as guides for the curtain and prevent the ping in ahigh wind.

In the use of my device, assuming that the curtain is in open positionasin Fig. 1, that is, one half of the curtain ison eachv side of thepartition 3 4, there' is an opening A between the upper and lowercurtain strips, admitting considerable light and ventilation. Thisopening is large enough for the driver or any occupant of vthe car tostick 'his head through or to stick his arm out for signalling. l,Whendesiring to close the curtain the driver merely takes hold of theinwardly extending part of the angle ironk 33v and pushes forward,causing the Vcurtain (which to move inthe directionv of arrows 35 ig. 2)until the outer angle iron 32 stops'a ainst the frame end 16c as shownig. 1.y The light 31 will then occup theposition indicated in dottedlines -in ig.' 2, said light and the curtain part about it completelyclosing the aperture A and leaving no working parts exposed to theelements.

36 is the regular door knob for releasing '1 v'the car door from itsclosedposition.l When the door is swung open'the'curtain and its latterfrom flap-l frame will of course swing with it butthe tains remain-intheir respective positions.y

It is readily understood that if my device i haps be rigidly sup-portedfromV the car body, but such variations readily come within the intendedspirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is l. Inl a Vvehicle curtain of the class described, aquadrangular frame detacliably secured on the top part of avehicle'door, and, extending upwardly in a common plane with the door, arigid, rectangular frame secured i' to' the vehicle and adapted toreceive the rst frame when the vehicle door is closed,-

said rquadrangular frame having an aperture, vertically arranged rollersone in each end of said frame, av movable belt-like cur-.

tain `engaging said rollers, said curtain havQf ing'an apertureadaptedto registerwith the aperture in the fra-me when the curtainis in onepositioma quadrangular lightin'the curtain adapted' to cover theaperturefin the framey whenv the curtain is moved to .another positionto admit light into the vehicle,

means for keep-ing the curtain'taut and means within thequadrangularframe for guiding and preventing napping otliefcurtain. Y

2. The structure 'specied in claimk l, said movable curtain comprising alarge plain v section and two vertically spacednarrow exi tensions thespace between the latter forming the aperturein'the'curtain 3.Thestructure lspecified in claim 1, in

100 which said curtain guiding means comprises` a verticallyarraiigedpartition within the 1 eluadrangular` frame and between 'thetwof' runs of the curtain, said, aperture in. theV frame beinglocatedbetween one end of said partition and the adjacentcurtainroller.'

4. The,structurejspecified in" claim' l, in

which said curtainguidingmeans comprisesk a vertically arrangedpartition withinthe quadrangular frame and between :the two runs of thecurtain, -said aperture in Athe l -Y frame being located between one,endv Vof said partition and 'the' adjacent curtainA roller,

and two vertically spaced narrow 4partitions 'f u u V1152i' 1 tionedpartition and adapted to guide" the Y constituting extensions of therstm'em narrow curtain extensions, for. the purpose Y described. aIiitestin'nony` whereof I Vailix ni si ature.

